Such are the effects which necessarily result from the principles of a
religion, which teaches mankind that involuntary error is a crime that
merits the wrath of God. It is in consequence of such ideas, that
in certain countries, priests, with the permission of the civil
governments, pretend to a commission for maintaining the faith in its
purity. Judges in their own cause, they condemn to the flames all whose
opinions appear to them dangerous.1 Served by innumerable spies, they
watch the minutest actions of the people, and inhumanly sacrifice all
that have the misfortune to give them the smallest umbrage. To excite
suspicions in their minds, is to rush upon inevitable destruction. Such
are the blessings which the Holy Inquisition, all mild and gentle, pours
upon mankind.
1 Civil tribunals, when they are just, have a maxim to look
for every thing that can contribute to the defence of the
accused. In the Inquisition a method directly opposite has
been adopted. The accused is neither told the cause of his
detention nor confronted with his accuser. He is ignorant of
his crime, yet he is commanded to confess. Such are the
maxims of Christian priests. The Inquisition, however,
condemns nobody to die. Priests cannot themselves shed
blood. That function is reserved for the secular arm; and
they have even the effrontery to intercede for criminals,
sure, however, of not being heard. Indeed, it is probable,
they would make no small clamour, should the magistrate take
them at their word. This conduct becomes men in whom
Almighty interest stifles humanity, sincerity, and modesty.
Such are the principles of this sanguinary tribunal which perpetuates
the ignorance and infatuation of the people wherever the false policy of
governments permits its horrors to be exercised.
The disputes between Christian priests have been sources of animosity,
hatred, and heresy. We find these to have existed from the infancy of
the church. A religion founded on wonders, fables, and obscure oracles,
could only be a fruitful source of quarrels. Priests attended to
ridiculous doctrines instead of useful knowledge; and when they should
have studied true morality, and taught mankind their real duties,
they only strove to gain adherents. They busied themselves in useless
speculations in a barbarous and enigmatical science, which, under the
pompous title of the science of God, or theology, excited in the vulgar
a reverential awe. They invented a system, bigoted, presumptuous,
ridiculous, and as incomprehensible as the God whom they affected to
worship. Hence arose disputes on disputes concerning puerile subtilties,
odious questions, and arbitrary opinions, which far from being useful,
only served to poison the peace of society. In these bickerings we find
profound geniuses busied; and we are forced to reject the prostitution
of talents worthy a better cause. The vulgar, ever fond of riot, entered
into quarrels they could not understand. Princes undertook the defence
of the priests they wished to favour, and orthodoxy was decided by the
longest sword. Their assistance the church never hesitated to receive in
time of danger; for on such occasions the church relies rather on human
assistance than the promise of God, who declared that the sceptre of the
wicked should not rest upon the lot of the righteous. The heroes, found
in the annals of the church, have been obstinate fanatics, factious
rebels, or furious persecutors. They were monsters of madness, faction,
and cruelty.
The world in the days of our ancestors, was depopulated in defence of
extravagancies which excite laughter in a posterity, not indeed much
wiser than they were.
In almost all ages complaints have been made of abuses in the church,
and reformation has been talked of. Notwithstanding this pretended
reform, in the head, and in the members of the church, it has always
been corrupted. Avaricious, turbulent, and seditious priests have made
nations to groan under the weight of their vices, while princes were too
weak to reclaim them to reason. The divisions and quarrels which took
place among those ecclesiastical tyrants did indeed at length diminish
the weight of the yoke they had imposed on kings and nations. The empire
of the Roman pontiff, which endured many ages, was at last shaken by
irritated enthusiasts, and rebellious subjects, who presumed to examine
the rights of this formidable despot. Some princes, weary of their
slavery and poverty, readily embraced opinions which would authorise
them to enrich themselves with the spoils of the clergy. Thus the unity
of the church was destroyed, sects were multiplied, and each fought for
the defence of his own system.
These founders of these new sects were treated by the Roman pontiff as
innovators, heretics, and blasphemers. They, it is true, renounced some
of their old opinions; but content with having made a few steps towards
reason, they dared not to shake off entirely the yoke of superstition.
They continued to respect the sacred writ of the Christian, which they
still looked upon as the only faithful guide. Upon them they pretended
to found all their opinions. In fine, these books, in which every man
may find what he pleases, as they became more common from time to time,
produced new sects. Men were lost in a dark labyrinth, where each one
groped his way in error, and yet judged all but himself to be wrong.
The leaders of these sects, the pretended reformers of the church,
gained but a glimpse at the truth, and attended to nothing but minutiae.
They continued to respect the sacred oracles of the Christians,
and believe in their cruel and capricious God. They admitted their
extravagant mythology, and most of their unreasonable doctrines. In
fine, although they rejected some mysteries that were incomprehensible,
they admitted others not less so. Let us not be surprized, therefore,
that, notwithstanding these reforms, fanaticism, controversy,
persecution, and war, continued to rage throughout Europe. The reveries
of innovators only served to plunge nations into new misfortunes. Blood
continued to stream, and people grew neither more reasonable nor more
happy. Priests of all sects have ever wished to govern mankind and
impose on them their decisions as infallible and sacred. They were
always persecutors when in power, involved nations in their fury, and
shook the world by their fatal opinions. The spirit of intolerance and
persecution will ever be the essence of every sect founded on the Bible.
A mild and humane religion can never belong to a partial and cruel God?
whom the opinion of men can fill with wrath. Wherever Christian sects
exist, priests will exercise a power which may prove fatal to the state,
and bodies of fanatical enthusiasts will be formed, always ready to rush
to slaughter, when their spiritual guides cry, the church or the cause
of God is in danger.
Thus, in Christian countries, we see the temporal power servilely
submissive to the clergy, executing their commands, exterminating their
enemies, and supporting their rights, riches, and immunities. In
almost all nations where the church prevails, the most idle, useless,
seditious, and dangerous men are most liberally honoured and rewarded.
Superstition thinks she can never do enough for the ministers of her
gods. These sentiments are the same in all sects.1 Priests every
where endeavour to instil them into kings, and to make policy bend to
religion, in doing which they often oppose the best institutions. They
in all places aim at the superintendance of education, and they fill
their adherents with their fatal prejudices from their infancy.